Week Three: March 27-April 3; His Sexuality; His Affection

Hey girls, First, it definitely wasn't planned to have these two chapters in the same week, but am glad it fell that way. As far as the contents of these two chapters, my hubby and I in our short 7 yrs of marriage have come close to most of the possible scenarios...so after having had lots of very good Godly counsel in these areas and Bible study, these chapters were great reminders for me! Especially since I'm coming out of a period of a few months with me either pregnant, post c-section recovery, huge hormone swings, a month long illness, needless to say it's been very very difficult lately to put my "comfort" aside and not get into the habit of thinking "um...I don't feel like it yet" or "I just spent all day keeping your offspring ALIVE, are you kidding?" :) The paragraph where she suggested not only focusing on the positive aspects of our husbands and our marriage, but simply taking a few minutes to pamper and beautify myself (aka, get all the spit up off me!) just does wonders for my attitude. here's some food for thought from our study guide: -list the top ten priorities in your life. These are the things that occupy your time, attention, energy; kids, work, friends, church activities, etc. In all of this, where does your relationship with your husband fall? (ouch) What does this list reveal to you about your priorities? -if your husband IS at the top of your list under God (where he should be) is the sexual aspect of that relationship a priority or an afterthought? If it hasn't been, what are the reasons for that? (i.e illness, marital strife, financial worry, lack of interest, busy-ness, worry, exhaustion...the possibilities are endless) Pray asking God to help you make any changes necessary in order to make your sexual relationship with your husband the priority it should be. -if you have children, do you feel you and your husband have modeled for them a marriage that is filled with an abundance or lack of affection? How do you think it will affect them in their own marriages? Have you or your husband taken one another for granted in any way that has eroded your tendency to be affectionate toward one another? Has one of you assumed incorrectly that the other one doesn't need affection?

Week Two: March 20-26, his work; his finances

Hey girls, happy First Day of Spring! :) almost let's me want to let my boys go out and play in the dirt. :)

So I was going to split up the reading again like last week, but apparently here on in, the chapters are really pretty short. SO, I'm making the executive decision to go ahead and combine chapters 2 & 3 for this week. It comes out to about one page front & back each day with two days off. :)

Here are some food for thought questions. Also, feel free to play on last week's post as well, or any week for that matter, but especially since there was a lot of stuff on chapter 1! :) A lot to think & pray about concerning us as wives. Imagine that. :)

-Read Ecclesiastes 3:13 in your Bible. We often think to ask our husbands, How was your day today? Did you do anything interesting? Was the presentation successful, etc....but how often do we think about his being fulfilled through it? Does he enjoy what he is doing or is it just a means to an end, a job? God made our men with a built in need to take pride in their work, to live up to their fullest potential and use their talents and gifts. I want to challenge you to pray specifically that your husband feel fulfilled in his job. Even if his current job really is just a means to an end (as my husband admits his current employment really is...), pray God makes them feel fulfilled and shows them how they are or can use their talents.


-Read Matthew 6:21 in your Bible. Is your husband's focus on finances or on serving the Lord? If you don't know, ask God to show you & write down what He reveals.
In the study guide questions she asks if there is anything we can do to help relieve the financial burden on our husbands. Well, I struggle with this, as much as I have discovered I just really hate sales or the financial side of businesses, I have quite an affinity for crafting and making things. I get all wrapped up in the latest craft I've heard of or concocted, and my husband, being the supportive man that he is, allows me to run with it whenever I do.
Well, my challenge in this, mostly to myself, but I know several of you are also crafty women! :) is rather than try to swoop in and save the day with a new business (for those of you who do work either full time or part time, many kudos to you as you go the way the Lord has led you!) pray that God will give you and your husband wisdom in your finances as well as self control in spending habits and live within your means...remember God and the Holy Spirit have the power to change the way we live!

enjoy your week, I'm praying for you all!

Week 1- March 13-19

Here's a suggested break down of the reading for the week...in 6 days, take a day off. :)

-Intro: The Power

-His Wife: The Three Word Prayer & Who, Me? ... Change?

-" " : The Ultimate Love Language & I Don't Even Like Him--How Can I pray for him?

-" " : Shut Up & Pray & Believer or Not

-" " : Creating a Home & Letting Go of Expectations

-" " :With all Due Respect & Prayer, Power Tools

Here are some things to think about when you're reading/have read.

**First of all, while I'd love for all of us to be honest and open, by no means do we expect you to express things about you and your marriage that would make you or your husband uncomfortable. Hopefully you are close enough to your partner in the study to talk it out with them if need be. :)

<> Read Luke 10:19. You don't have authority over your husband, but whom DO you have authority over? Is there an area in your/our marriages that the enemy has gained or is trying to gain a stronghold?

<>Read Joel 2:25. What things deplete life out of marriage? What does God promise to do when things have been eaten away from our lives? Do you have a shareable story where something has eated away at a part of your married life and God has restored it?

<>On page 27 Stormie refers to our husbands treating us with unkindness, lack of respect, indifference, irresponsibility, etc, as SINNING against us. And also lists self-pity and lovelessness and revenge as sins just as bad as any others. I had not ever thought of these as actual SINS, just attitudes that aren't quite so "Christian-looking." Much less as something for which to ask & give forgiveness! How often have we sabotaged our own prayers by these things?

<>Psalm 62:5 says "for God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him." How many of the expectations we lay on our poor husbands should really be laid upon the Lord?

<>Read Ephesians 5:33 (hey, at least as a refresher :) Is there any area in which you've lost respect for your husband? I often don't even think of ommission as being sin as well as commission, but isn't it so easy to just leave the whole "I respect you" out of the equation? Sure, I appreciate you going to work and keeping the roof up, or I love you, thank you for my flowers, but how do we define RESPECT for them? Anybody have any real tangible ways to show respect for our husbands daily??

31 Days of Prayer Cards

Ok, so here is a tool that Kim Davis has found for us to use during our Praying Wife study. It's called 31 Days of Prayer, and these cards are meant to help us pray for our husbands daily. They don't match up with Stormie Omartian's book exactly, but the themes are quite similar. The idea is to start over after day 31. (Since our book study is 30 weeks...) Each has a prayer to pray over your husband that day along with Scripture to back it up. :) I think there are about 4 different background designs.

If you live in the Ft. Worth area, we can print a set for you and your study partner; if you are an "Always-a-Wedgie" :) and can't pick them up from us, then we can email you the jpg files of the cards. They are 4x6's and you can just have them printed as if they were photos at a store.

Just email Bekah Moore at bekahsue100@hotmail.com for either option. :)

A little delay in starting until March 13

Hey girls,
First of all, I am SO sorry for dropping off the map for a week! I thought I'd posted this note and turns out it had just gotten saved as a draft & not posted. Technology...bugh.

It has been decided that we will delay the real "kickoff" to our Blog style devotional until Sunday, March 13, mainly to allow more people to hear about this and get ready. We will be "pitching" it at the FACETS Women's conference at Wedgwood, and thought it might not be fair for those who just hear about it then to come into it 2-3 weeks behind. Plus that gives all of you plenty of time to get your book if you don't have it and your partner. :)

Also that gives us time to get your prayer cards ready, or if you're not living in Ft. Worth, then it gives us time to email them to you and YOU get your own ready! :) I'll post about the prayer cards in a minute, but they are super cute!

Looking forward to getting this started!!!